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A Snow Day Meditation on the Son of God

The bright
reflection of snow is brilliant.Don’t
you think that snow makes winter that much better?If it is going to be cold, we might as well
get to see some snow out of it.How
could one not enjoy a good covering of snow?Of course, it is realized that not everyone enjoys winter equally and
not everyone enjoys snow (for whatever
reason. . .).Yet, in the following
paragraphs, I would like to share with you an argument for the significance of
snow.I would like to encourage you to
look on a snowy day with a different perspective.I am also challenging myself to do the
same.I love snow for the simple fact of
its beauty, fun, and the memories that it gives to children and parents, but
God has given us something more than that to consider when we see it.

When seeing
snow, one may be reminded of what the New Testament says about the
transfiguration of Christ.We are told
that the Lord went up on a mountain with His three closest disciples, and He
was transfigured before them.The
description of His glorious appearance in Mark 9 is given in the NKJV words, “His
clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer
on earth can whiten them.”There is a
variant in the text which causes us to question whether the phrase “like snow”
was original (the Majority Text includes the phrase while the Critical Text
does not), but I think we get the point.The Lord’s appearance was bright and white, and there are very few words
in any human language to describe the sight and just how bright/white His
appearance really was that day.Snow is
a great example of the combination of brightness and whiteness.This is part of the majesty of snow.On a snow covered day, one can see the great
reflection of the brightness of the sun and there seems to be nothing
whiter.There is no question that this
manifestation was meant to show Christ’s glory and holiness in the sight of
those three men.How did they react?
When they saw Christ transfigured and heard the voice of confirmation from
heaven, Matthew 17 says the men fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.As Christians, do we really consider the
glory and holiness of God and respond properly?I think that if we truly do meditate on His purity, we will be
knocked-off-our-feet.I don’t know about
you, but I don’t have enough of those kind of moments.A snow day may offer just one of those
special instances.

Also, we may
mention that the description of Christ in Revelation 1 is significant.The One who declared Himself, “I am the Alpha
and the Omega, the First and the Last. . .” is the same One whom John described
as,

“like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment
down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.His head and hair were white like wool, as
white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine
brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He
had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged
sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as
dead.”

When Jesus
is seen in all of His glory, the brightness is so great that people can only
fall on the ground as dead.His
brilliance is humbling.There is no question
of the phrase, “as white as snow” in this passage.Christ is pictured as the Alpha and Omega,
the King of kinds, and Lord of lords whose head and hair are as white as
snow.As many commentators point out,
this is not supposed to be taken as a literal description of Christ, but as a
full picture which metaphorically is saying something about the Lord.In Daniel 7, the Ancient of Days, God
Himself, is referred to as having a garment as white as snow.The Apostle, following a trend in the New
Testament of using Old Testament references to God in referring to the Lord
Jesus, uses the description of the Ancient of Days in Daniel to depict the
risen and exalted Christ in the latter days.This trend constantly reinforces the interrelationship of the Father and
Son, their unique harmony.As one author
says (Osborne), white hair in ancient cultures (and somewhat today) is a symbol
of dignity and wisdom.The same author
goes on to say that there was no better way to refer to pure and brilliant
whiteness in the ancient world than using the ideas of snow and wool.Will Jesus have a head full of white hair in
heaven?That is not what the
word-picture is trying to communicate.What
meaning do these biblical references convey of the Triune God being clothed in
garments and having hair as white as snow?What are we to learn and heed from these passages?The primary lesson, or maybe more
significantly declaration, is the holiness of God.The illustrations are meant to express the
brilliance, righteousness, purity, holiness, glory, wisdom, and more of the One
who has overcome the world and conquered all His enemies.He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world.Although He was once
veiled in flesh, the disciples got a preview of what it will be like to dwell
with Him forever in His fully glorified state.Both Daniel and John got glances of His snow-like glory in visions that
they received from heaven, but one day we will all see Him face-to-face.As 1 Corinthians 13:12 says, “For now we see
in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just
as I also am known.”

So, can we now all agree
that snow is a marvelous thing?Yes, I
could enjoy it for the excitement of seeing my daughter’s face light up when it
is falling and covering the ground and the fun of playing in it, but from this
point forward, I am determined to consider the glory and holiness of Jesus
Christ in the brightness and whiteness of a snowy day.The next time you are trapped in your house
by winter weather, will you also meditate on the Bible’s descriptions of our
Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ?